Eastern Michigan University’s Honors College started a Book Club via Zoom during the 2020-2021 school year.
The Honors College Book Club was created after a couple of requests from students in a survey the Honors College sends out at the beginning of every school year.
“We do a survey at the beginning of the year where we ask people to rate events and [provide] a suggestion box,” Nichole Sayer, the Honors College Programming Fellow, said. “We got two or three student suggestions for a book club. We decided we would run with it and it became pretty popular.”
Meetings are every other Monday from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and the last meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 22 at their regular meeting time.
Members of Book Club are currently reading and discussing Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. “I've really enjoyed the book we've been reading,” said member Zora Westwalewicz, “The book covers certain topics such as class differences and racism while still being an enjoyable fantasy adventure with interesting characters and plot lines.”
Currently, there are between five and 12 members of the Book Club and about 40 people signed up to receive emails about Book Club.
“They [students] have to purchase the book but then they can just join the zoom meetings. We have a book club email list or a survey for anyone who is interested that we send out in the honors college Monday minutes. If they sign up for book club emails, I just email them whenever we have a meeting,” Sayer said.
Book Club has been an opportunity for students to interact safely during this time because a lot of clubs are not meeting in person still due to the pandemic. “It's good to have a social event with everything going on with COVID-19. It’s very fun to have conversations with people,” Sayer said.
Also, Honors College’s Book Club has provided opportunities for new friendships between students who enjoy reading. “It's been so nice to see new people on a more regular basis,” Westwalewicz said.
Honors College welcomes all students who are interested. To attend the last meeting, visit the EMU Today Calendar for the Zoom link.
